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Join-in-Centenary : A resource to modify for your celebrations

12th Oct 2013

In the early years of Scouting's second century, other centenary celebrations will take place as National Scout Organizations celebrate their centenaries. These milestones provide excellent opportunities to support national strategies and promote growth and development in Scouting. We need vibrant quality programmes to meet the needs of more young people, we need to recruit and retain dedicated adult volunteers and we need to constantly improve our communications in order to raise our profile and encourage more people to get involved!

Join-in-Centenary, an activity kit containing four themed packs, is a tool to enhance Scout programmes in National Scout Organisations. The packs focus on three age-groups in Scouting (under 11 years, 11-14 years and over 15 years), but can be adapted as necessary. Whether you are celebrating a national centenary - or whether you just wish to spice up your weekly programmes, this activity kit can help.

The kit consists of the following sections:

Part 1: Scouting Yesterday and Today
The activities in this part help Scouts to explore the history of Scouting locally, nationally and internationally and to explore Scouting today in their own communities at local and national level and in the wider world. This part also helps Scouts to look at the role Scouting has played in assisting young people, who may be marginalised from society due to their disability, social status or ethnic origin, to be included.

Many families today are more dispersed; many communities are more diverse with social isolation and exclusion a reality for many young people. Scouting has an important role to play, now and in the future, in helping young people and adults to be part of society and to encourage people from different generations to work together to create a better world.

Part 2: The Peace Pack
The activities in this part reflect the theme of Peace, and refer to the Gifts for Peace project undertaken by Scouts worldwide as a fitting way to celebrate the world centenary of Scouting in 2007. In this section, the activities help Scouts to reflect on peace personally and in the wider world. There are also activities that can be used at gatherings to mark specific dates, for example on Founder’s Day on 22 February, and to help Scouts reflect on the Promise they have made as Scouts – which lasts a lifetime.

Part 3: Join-in-Jamboree
The activities in this part contain Join-in-Jamboree activities. These ones are based on activities devised for the 21st World Scout Jamboree. There are activities to learn more about aspects of the United Kingdom and Europe as well as activities which reflect the programme of the Jamboree: Splash, Trash, Energise, Starburst, Global Development Activities, World Villages, Ceremonies, Vigil. These can be adapted to reflect activities at national Jamborees or big events. Have a look, adapt as appropriate,and have a go!

Part 4 – Scouting Tomorrow
Celebrations and milestones are important aspects of our lives as individuals, as members of families and as organisations. These events help us celebrate the past and look forward to the future, ready to face the new challenges that lie ahead.
Scouts look to the future. In Scouting, we need to set ourselves new challenges. Does our Scout family reflect all parts of our local community? Could we work with others to provide a more varied and exciting programme for our Scouts? As Scouts are we taking action to protect our environment? Are there adults in the community who could help Scouting grow, but don’t know how to become involved? It is important that adults and young people work together in Scouting, to assess their situation, build a new vision and make plans for the future. The activities in this part of the resource help you and your Scouts explore these topics.
Working with the programme cycle
All the activities in this resource are based on the ‘programme cycle’ used in Scouting, which helps young people to be involved in assessing their needs, suggesting ideas, selecting, organising and implementing activities and evaluating the results.

The activities also support each of the five areas of personal development proposed in Scouting
– physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual development.

Supporting our priorities
The activities reflect the current priorities in World Scouting. These include strengthening Scouting for young people aged 14-22, helping them to develop life-skills and use these skills for the benefit of their communities, involving young people in decision-making and helping Scouting to be open to boys and girls and be available to young people irrespective of their ethnic or religious background or social status.
Recruiting new adults to help Scouting achieve its mission is also a priority. Please involve others in planning and delivering the activities so that adults, who are not currently in Scouting, can see the benefits for young people and the fun and satisfaction that they can get from being involved too.

Scouting needs support to succeed and to obtain support we need to be seen as a modern, vibrant Movement focused on meeting the needs of young people. National centenaries and highpoints of celebration are great opportunities to share Scouting with others, involve our partners and project a profile which is both positive and dynamic. Scouting’s profile is a priority and we believe that these activities will help to project a positive image of Scouting in local communities.

How to use the resource
The resource is flexible so please use it and develop it to meet your particular needs. The activities have been written for different age-groups but please feel free to adapt them for the age-group that you work with.

The activities are available to download as unformatted 'doc' documents, so that you can adapt, format and decorate them as you wish. We only ask that you credit the World Scout Bureau and other named authors to whom the original material belongs.

Use part of the resource, or all of the resource, but please let your Scouts know that other Scouts are also doing these activities as this will help them to foster a feeling of solidarity, of being part of a global family. However, most importantly, take part, have fun and share this fun with others, and Scouting will grow and develop.